What we will discover in this blog post are some practical examples of how the social economics of any organisation can benefit with more auditable democracy and decentralised processes using blockchain technology. I’m writing this post in the context of the Iron Blogger (IB) organisation, but these concepts can of course scale to almost any … Continue reading A practical example of benefits using blockchain technology→

The beginning: Siddhārtha Gautama becomes The Buddha

The story goes that one day, roughly 2600 years ago, Siddhārtha Gautama, a young Indian prince, had a stroll outside the palace. He discovered he was completely outside his comfort zone: never having been outside the palace walls he had never encountered sickness, starvation, old age, or death.

So distressed, Siddārtha abandoned palace life at age 29 and set out to understand and conquer the suffering he had witnessed. His quests brought him to various practices and beliefs, which he all studied guided by venerated teachers. However, these became increasingly ascetic and austere, ultimately leading him to self-starvation, self-mortification and near-death.

During his recovery, while sitting under a bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, Siddārtha is said to have experienced awakening (bodhi): insight into karma, how and why human beings suffer, and what each and every one of us can do about it.

From that point on Siddhārtha Gautama was referred to as the Buddha - the Awakened One, also translated as the Enlightened One. That said, as we'll see later on, the Buddha teaches us that awakening can be achieved by anyone at any time, and anyone who is awakened can be referred to as a buddha as well.

The Four Noble Truths

While sat under the bodhi tree, the Buddha came to deeply understand the nature of suffering and how to alleviate it. These understandings form the Four Noble Truths, and they are the essence of Buddhism.

There are many, many Buddhist schools, traditions, flavours, sects, and whatnot. Some proclaim the be the One and Only Absolutely Correct Buddhist Way, while others just do their thing in their own corner without bothering anyone else.

However, the Core of the Buddhist teaching - The Four Noble Truths - is a set of values and practices common to all practitioners of Buddhism.

The beginning: Siddhārtha Gautama becomes The Buddha

The story goes that one day, roughly 2600 years ago, Siddhārtha Gautama, a young Indian prince, had a stroll outside the palace. He discovered he was completely outside his comfort zone: never having been outside the palace walls he had never encountered sickness, starvation, old age, or death.

So distressed, Siddārtha abandoned palace life at age 29 and set out to understand and conquer the suffering he had witnessed. His quests brought him to various practices and beliefs, which he all studied guided by venerated teachers. However, these became increasingly ascetic and austere, ultimately leading him to self-starvation, self-mortification and near-death.

During his recovery, while sitting under a bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, Siddārtha is said to have experienced awakening (bodhi): insight into karma, how and why human beings suffer, and what each and every one of us can do about it.

From that point on Siddhārtha Gautama was referred to as the Buddha - the Awakened One, also translated as the Enlightened One. That said, as we'll see later on, the Buddha teaches us that awakening can be achieved by anyone at any time, and anyone who is awakened can be referred to as a buddha as well.

The Four Noble Truths

While sat under the bodhi tree, the Buddha came to deeply understand the nature of suffering and how to alleviate it. These understandings form the Four Noble Truths, and they are the essence of Buddhism.

There are many, many Buddhist schools, traditions, flavours, sects, and whatnot. Some proclaim the be the One and Only Absolutely Correct Buddhist Way, while others just do their thing in their own corner without bothering anyone else.

However, the Core of the Buddhist teaching - The Four Noble Truths - is a set of values and practices common to all practitioners of Buddhism.

Last week I asked if someone has an idea what Ethereum is about. Dick Olsson told me in a comment that it’s possible to create a kind of blockchain for our iron blogger project. What I know so far is the wikipedia article about Ethereum, some content of the website of the Swiss foundation Ethereum.org and a few videos from 2014 …

It is lonely where I am, I am all alone. I cry. I’m not ashamed of it. I go through a range of emotions, but they really only get me in trouble if I let them manage me, rather than the other way around. Loneliness is a feeling, nothing more. After all, you can be lonely in a crowd of friends. Like all feelings, they need to be felt and then addressed. Cry it out. Have that pity party for yourself. Then wipe your nose and move forward. I today share with you something on entrepreneurship and why in my opinion it “feels” like such a lonely journey.

Along the entrepreneurial road, there are a good number of successes to share with your team, with your stakeholders and your customers. But there are a ton more failures and setbacks. Few people around you share in those. That means you are essentially alone. You can only rely on yourself. That’s, tough, when solitude can turn to the more corrosive loneliness. How lonely an entrepreneur, how lonely.

People make lots of assumptions of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, and many of those are false. Likewise, as entrepreneurs, we often struggle to see why people would choose to live a different way. It’s important to keep a check on this, or you’ll end up very lonely indeed.

The best thing entrepreneur do is accept that the journey will often be lonely. We find ways to stay connected with people: have other hobbies/interests, make time for people, and develop a system of values which we don’t compromise, which is true to us. It sounds much easier than it is. When you are going against the grain, there are big forces you have to fight with.

But you are walking to beat of your own drummer, which will pay off once your business is up and running. So while everyone else clocks out of work and has a little free time to spend with friends, party, work on their hobbies, etc., you’re constantly just working around the clock to make sure everything turns out perfect. How lonely an entrepreneur, how lonely.

I have a reason to be an entrepreneur and I can name a reason everyday on why I require myself to be an a entrepreneur. People focus on how hard it is, but I’ve learned that anyone can be and it is definitely possible. The key thing to being a entrepreneur is admitting you don’t know or have all the answers to your question, but you are willing and doing whatever it takes to find those answers. Keep an open mind and have a solid reason on why you want to be an entrepreneur and honestly It will be a lonely road.

It’s even more lonely road if you can’t find people who aren’t taking the same journey as you are. Forgive me if you don’t feel encouraged, truth is very white. when you’re self-employed or an entrepreneur, opportunities are really limited, because you’re most likely working alone or at home… at least at the start. You’re going to need to try much harder to put yourself in social situations if you want to make friends.

Richard Branson says his biggest motivation is to keep challenging himself. He treats life like one long university education, where he can learn more every day. You can too! We need to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs, showing them the ambitions they can realise in business. I charge full speed ahead pretty much all the time. When I have an idea, I want to implement it now. This is a struggle because I come up with a lot of ideas, but I also know in the back of my mind that there are many things to consider before starting to use your time and bandwidth on a new project.

It’s this exact fear that will continue to try over and over to hold us back, and I know that what sets successful entrepreneurs apart is that they take action and move forward in spite of this fear. I know there are risks and potential failures in my future—I’m just not willing to let them hold me back from trying. It’s thanks to my mentor and the people I choose to surround myself that I have the support and encouragement I need to continue pushing through these fears.